Stop-motion.



W. LARKIN.

STOP MOTION.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 2 19I6- gl QfiQ QfiQ Patented June 11, 1918.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

W. LARKIN.

STOP MOTION.

APPLICATION FILED HOVx 2.19l6.

Patented June 11, 1918.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

lllla w I L w. LARKIN. STOP MOTION.

APPLICATION FILED NOV 2. I916.

Patented June 11, 1918.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

, 0F PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVAEZMT, ASSIGNOJZZ T@ H. BRUTTN CQME, 0F EHILADELEHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A GQEIPOTKQN @F PEEWEWEw s'ror-no'rron.

aeeaaea tpeclflcation of Letters retest.

Patented J1 name 11, 121%.)

Application filed November 2, 1916. @erlal Ito. 129,127.-

Stop-Motions, ofwhich the following is a specification.

'One object of my invention 1s to prov1d e a knitting machine'with a stop motlon which in addition to being materially simpler than those commonly employed to .attain the same ends, shall be of such a nature as to be reset more quickly and with greater case than would ordinarily be possible.

Another object of the invention 1s to provide a stop motion in which the member for releasing the belt shifting or other control ling mechanism shall be operated directly by the pull of the end of the yarn ;the arrangement of parts being such that the devlce controlled by a lack of continuity of the thread shall be so coupled to the mechanism which is operated by a knotin the yarn, that either of them shall be capable of actuating said releasing member.

A further object of the invention is to provide a stop motion having the above characteristics whichin addition shall have its parts so disposed that the knot actuated mechanism shall be operated without any jerking action by a comparatively gentle pull on the arm or sweep over which the yarn passes. I

These objects and other advantageous ends I secure as hereinafter set forth, reference bein had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of a stop motion constructed according to my invention;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the upper portion of the structure shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a perspective View illustrating the construction of the thread-and knot-controlled members at their point of junction;

Fig. 4: is a full sized plan showing the relation between my invention and certain other parts of a knitting machine;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the sweeps and certain of their associated parts;

Fig. 6 is a plan, partly in section, further illustrating the construction of the sweepactuated mechanism;

. Fig. 7 is a vertical section on the line 7-7, Fig. 6; and

' Fig. 8 is a side elevation illustrating the construction of certain parts of the machine.

In the above drawings 1 represents a supporting castmg designed to be attached to the frame of a circular knitting machine provided with fast and loose pulleys 2 and 3 mounted on a driving shaft 4:. The position of a driving belt on these pulleys is governed by a belt shifter slidably mounted on a guide bar 6 and tending at all times to move under the action of a spring 7 mounted on said bar, to change the belt from the first to the second of said pulle s. This shifter is operatively connected t rough a link 8 to a manually controlled lever 9 and said link is so formed that when this lever is turned to the position shown, said shifter is retained in place against the action of the spring 7. The lever 9 is acted on by one arm of a lever 9* whose second arm is engaged by an arm 10 of a lever 10 suitably pivoted to the frame. Said latter lever also has an arm 11 which is formed to engage a suitable retaining shoulder of a lever 12.

Said lever 12 has two other arms 13 and 14, of which the first'is connected to one end of a spring 15 designed to retain it in holding engagement with the arm 11 of the lever 10. The same arm 13 is connected through a link 16 to an arm 17 forming part of a collar 19 fixed by a set screw 20 to a trans versely extending shaft or spindle 18 journaled in the bearings carried by or forming part of the structure 1. The outer end of this collar is slotted for the reception of a lever 21, which is pivotally mounted therein and has connected to one of its free ends a rod 22 whose opposite end is slidably supported by an arm 23 fixed to and projecting from a vertically guided, rotatable spindle 24.

The second end of the lever 21 basedjustably mounted on its outer or second free end a longitudinally movable plate 25 which, when said lever is turned on its supporting pivot, is brought into the path of a series of teeth 26 which project radially from a flange or collar 27 forming part of or attached to the fast pulley 2.

The supporting plate 1 has fixed to and projecting vertically up from it a standard in the shape of two rods 28 and 29, of which the latter carries a casing 30 about midway between its top and bottom and braced to the rod 28 by a transverse member 31. Similarly the upper ends of the two rods are braced together by a second horizontal arm 36 rigidly connected to and projecting at right anglesfrom the rod 22. The sec- 0nd end of this bell crank lever is connected through a tension member in the shape of a wire 37 with a disk 60 which is vertically slidable upon a screw" 61 threaded into the top of the rod 29- and serving to retain in place the cover 62 of the casmg 33. Said disk has fixed to it in any desired manner a block or lug 64 to which the upper end of the wire 37 is clamped by means of a screw 63, so that any upward movement of the disk naturally likewise draws the wire upwardly.

The casing 33 is made up not only of the c0ver62 but also of a flanged collar 65 fixed to the top of the rod 29 and recessed in its top face to form a chamber into which the stems 38 of a pair of sweeps 40 extend through upwardly opening slots 68, the whole being so arranged as to prevent access of lint, dirt, etc., to the parts hereafter described, which are inclosed by said casing. This flanged collar has threaded into it one end of the top bracing member 32' which extends through the vertically slotted end of the rod 28 where it is clamped with its associated parts so as to be held from turnin by a screw 66 threaded into the vertica Walls of the sl0t;-the upper end of said rod being prevented from spreading when the screw is set up by means of a ferrule or collar 67 extending around them.

The top bracing member 32 extends beyond the rod 28 forv a distance equal in the present case, to the distance between the two rods 28 and 29, and at its outer end non-rotatably carries a transverse plate 39 whose extremities are turned at right angles to its general plane and are then extended up and over to form downwardly opening bearings for the reception of the stems 38 which also rest upon the top edges of said plate 39. It is noted that said stems 38 pass through the slots 68 in the flange of the collar 65 of the casing 33 so as to be easily removable therefrom, and owing to the construction of the plate 39 with its bearing lugs 69, the inner end of either stem may, after removal from the slot 68, be swung downwardly and then toward the brace 32 so as to free its outer end from the plate and permit of its complete removal.

The ends of the stems projecting inside the casing 33 are turned at right angles to their general line and given a helical form as indicated at 70, so' that they each have a projecting end or finger extending under the disk 60. Each of these ends is engaged by a spring 71 which is fixed to a collar 72 upon the rod 29 so that the sweeps 40 are normally retained in an elevated position at an angle of about 45 to the horizontal. When, however, either of said sweeps is drawn downwardly so as to cause its stem 38 to turn in its bearings, its (projecting arm or finger engages the un the plate 60 so as to raise the same and thereby draw-the wire 37 upwardly.

To facilitate the placing of the stems of the sweeps in place, the flanged edge of the collar 65 is preferably slotted as indicated at 76 to permit of the convenient introduction of the coiled or otherwise formed end of said stem. The outer extremity of each of the sweeps is first bent at right angles er side of to its general line and then again bent so as to extend for a short distance parallel with said line, after which it turns abruptly through an angle of 180 and is returned in engagement and parallel with itself to the point at which it was first bent. Beyond this its extremity is curved over and down toward its two parallel portions to form a retaining loop which will hold the yarn as long as the sweep extends in a line above the horizontal. Thereafter the yarn is free to be drawn out of this finger or holder 41,.

The rotary member 24 extends upwardly through the supporting plate 1 and enters the'intermediate casing 30, where through suitable mechanism, forming no part of this invention though well known to the art, it is connected to horizontal spindles 42.

through suitable bearings carried by the lower part of a horizontally slotted plate 43 which in turn is supported by arms 44 rigidly fixed to and projecting radially from said casing. Each of the rotating spindles 42 has a series of yarn controlled fingers 45 projectin operate with the slotted plate 43 in the manner well known to the art, so as to be released in the absence of the yarn and fall to an approximately horizontal position, there by giving a partial rotation to its spindle 42. Thereupon the mechanism within the casing 30 releases the rotary spindle 24, permitting it a partial revolution in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 3. The particular means for causing such action of the spindle 24 is immaterial, since obviously any suitable device may be employed for this purpose without departing from my invention.

Each of the arms 44 carries under the above described end detector a knot catcher in the shape of a circular plate 46 having a number of perforations adjacent its periphery through which the yarn passes to the detector.

Under normal conditions the yarn extends from suitably supported bobbins through from it and designed to 'comesses one of the perforations of the yarn catcher,

43, through theloop 41 of the sweep and thence down to the knitting machine.

In putting-the machine inoperation the projecting arm of the lever 10 is forcibly raised against the action of a sprin 10", thus drawing the arm 11 back 0 the shoulder on the lever 12. The lever 9 is then turned to carry the attached end of the link 8 over and behind the pivotal point of said lever, where it is retained against the action of the spring 7, this operation of said lever also movin the shifter 5 into position to bring the riving belt on to the fast pulley 2. Under the action of gravity on the various part, the end 25 of the lever 21 is normally held in the posi tion shown in Fig. 4 to one side of the plane of revolution of the teeth of the flange or wheel 27.

With these conditions, it is now possible to operate the knitting machine in the well known manner, although at any time the end of either thread passes through and out of the yarn fingers 45 these are permitted to drop, so actuating or releasing the mechanism in the casing 30 as to cause a partial revolution of the vertical spindle 24 in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 3, whereupon the arm23 engages a stop 50 on the link or rod 22, which swings the lever 21 on its pivot .so as to turn its end portion 25 into the pulley 3.

path of the teeth 26. Since the wheel carrying these teeth is rotating with the fast pulley 2, one of said teeth immediately engages said lever, causing it to turn the spindle 18 and with it the arm 17, which then acts through th link 16 to swing up the arm 13 and moves the arm 12 downwardly against the action of the spring 15. This at once releases the lever arm 11 and causes the arm 10 of the lever 10 to act on the lever 9 so as to turn the lever 9 and release the belt shifter 5, which under the action of the spring 7, moves to transfer the belt from the fast pulley 2 to the loose Power is thus cut off from the machine, which is quickly stopped by an automatic brake connected with the lever 10' but forming no part of the present invention.

Similarly when a knot or enlargement of the yarn reaches the plate 46 and is held thereby, or whenever there. is an abnorma tension from any cause, the increased tension of said yarn draws down the sweep 40 and rotates its stem 38 thus causing the arm or coiled end to act upon and raise the disk 60. The tension wire 37 isthereupon drawn up, swinging the bell crank lever on its pivot and'through the arm 36, longltudinally moving the link 22. As before such movement causes the plate 25 to be brought into the path of. the teeth 26 and the resulting. engagement of said plate or arm by one of the teeth atonce results in the cutting off of power and stoppage of the machine. Obviously, even if the machine should continue to knit after the sweep had been drawn down to the horizontal the yarn would be disengaged from the loop 41 without, breakage so that after the knot has been 1 removed from the plate 46, it is merely -,necessary to replace it in its loop 41, where upon the machine may be again put in operation.

From the above description it will be same main connecting lever 21 whereby the power of the machine is caused to release the belt shifting mechanism.

With such an arrangement of parts it isa relatively simple and quickly performed operation to put the machine in operation after it has been stopped by the action of the above described apparatus, since if the appearance of an end of the yarn has released one of the detector fingers, the splicing of the yarn and its reengagement with the fingers 45' and plate 43, will again put the machine in condition for 'operation;it being understood that'the mechanism in the casing 30 is set by a partial revolution of a setting arm 56 on the rod 24 after the yarn finger 45 has been raised to the yarn-engaging position.

It is moreover noted that arelatively small downward movement of the sweep under a comparatively gentle pull exerted upon the. yarn will shift the lever 21 into position to cause stoppage of the machine,

regardless of whether this is due to the operation of the knot catcher or whether it is caused by increased tension from imperfect winding of the bobbins or other cause.

I claim V 1. The combination in a knittingmachine of a rotatably supported shaft; machinestopping means connected to the shaft and actuated by the rotary movement thereof;

connected to the lever; two abutments on the link; two arms respectively operative on the abutments to move the link longitudinally; and two independent yarn controlled devices respectively connected to said arms for actuating the same to move. the' link.

2. The combination in a knitting machine of a supporting structure having a casing; a spindle extending into said casing; a bearing carried by the structure and engaging opposite sides of said spindle; an arm on the spindle within the casing; a

sweep arm also connected to the spindle; a

member within the casing operated on by the first arm to cause stoppage of the machine; anda bearin on the structure re movably engaging said spindle adjacent the sweep arm. v

3. The combination in a knitting machine of a supporting structure; a plate mounted thereon and having two unalined portions formed to constitute a bearing engaging opposite parts of a spindle; a second spindle bearing; a. spindle removably mounted in said bearings; a sweep arm and an operating arm for said spindle; with means controlled by said operating arm for stopping the machine.

"nected to said plate and extending longitudinally of the supporting structure; a spindle having one end extended into the casing and having an arm projecting under said plate; a swee arm on the other end of the spindle; a caring supporting said spindle adjacent the sweep arm; and a spring operative on the arm within the casing to normally maintain the sweep arm in elevated position.

WALTER LARKIN. 

